Conventional computerized devices, such as personal computers, laptop computers, and the like utilize graphical user interface in applications such as operating systems and graphical editors (i.e., web page editors, document editors, etc.) that enable users to quickly provide input and create documents and/or projects using “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) technology. In general, using a graphical user interface, a user operates an input device such as a mouse or keyboard to manipulate graphical objects and/or provide commands on a computer display. The user may operate the input device (for example, a mouse) to move a corresponding indicator (for example, a pointer icon) onto a graphical object shown on the graphical user interface. The user may then select and move the graphical object, by further operation of the input device, or invoke an operating system command or other application through operation of the input device.
By utilizing graphical user interface technology, a software application may be created that allows users to create and edit documents and/or projects containing multimedia content, such as a collection of video files to be organized into a single presentation for burning to a DVD. The application allows a user to select and place graphical objects, for example icons representing a number of video files, into the document and/or project. Other graphical objects, such as icons representing titles, captions, audio and visual effects, audio files, and so on, may be added, removed, changed, arranged, or otherwise manipulated on the graphical user interface as desired. In this way, users may quickly and easily create and edit multimedia projects.
Content creation and editing applications typically allow the user to view the content on the computer display, both the finished project as well as the content components that comprise the finished project. For example, a user may operate the input device to select a graphical object corresponding to a file including video. The user may then further operate the input device to provide a command to the application that causes the application to invoke a playback application in a separate graphical user interface, in which the user is able to view the video. This separate graphical user interface may be, in the language of the Microsoft® Windows® operating system, a window that contains the playback application. Some applications cause the window to “pop up” in relation to the selected graphical object, at which point the playback application executes to play the video file.